Personal Branding: Kerri

Meet Kerri.  She’s a fitness instructor and personal trainer, not to mention an inspiration to those who spend any amount of time with her.

Portrait of Kerri Anderson, a fitness instructor and personal trainer at Beacon Health and fitness.

Over the past three years, she has logged countless long and physically challenging hours as she has found her happy place in the gym.

Kerri, a fitness instructor, takes a deep breath in between sets while holding weights / plates at her side.

Formerly working as a stay-at-home mom, she decided to build upon her personal passion for health and fitness and began her pursuit of helping others gain healthy bodies and attitudes. Once she made that commitment, there was no stopping her. She cranked out 14 certifications in a matter of two years. Of those, she is most proud of her personal training certification through the National Academy of Sports Medicine and her Pilates Reformer certification, which required a higher-than-average level of dedication to achieve.

Kerri Anderson, Pilates instructor with a certification in Pilates Reformer, holds a side plank with seemingly little effort.

With all there is to love about fitness, Kerri can’t be restricted to teaching just one type of class or even one type of client. She teaches mat and chair Pilates too, Ballet Barre, high intensity interval training (HIIT), and stretching. She loves seeing some students achieve fitness goals and helping others to recover from injuries. Her true passion, however, lies with high intensity training and the Les Mills GRIT series in particular. She is already an advanced GRIT coach and aspires to become a master trainer for GRIT–the one who assesses incoming GRIT coaches.

Personal trainer and fitness instructor Kerri twists and shows off her musclular and lean body as she raises a gold weight / plate over her head with her right hand. She is wearing Lululemon workout clothing.

 

Kerri, a fitness instructor and personal trainer, performs a kettlebell swing over her head. Her attitude echoes the uplifting motion of her body and the photograph. She wears Lululemon apparel.Kerri keeps an upbeat attitude, evident whether you’re meeting her in class or out on the street. She cares about wellness of the mind and body–her own and yours.

A yoga and pilates instructor balances on a barrel centered under a chandelier and framed by twinkle lights in the background.

 

You can’t help but be motivated by Kerri. (Even though I spend my fair share of time at the gym, I found myself doing pushups and burpees while editing the images from her shoot.)  Not only does she have muscles, she has a contagious energy and a can-do attitude that makes you believe you can indeed move beyond your limits.

Kerri, a personal trainer and fitness instructor at Beacon Health and Fitness, does a pushup on kettlebells while looking directly at the camera and into the eyes of her audience. Black and white photo portraying female grit and determination.

While keeping a friendly and kind spirit, she pushes her own limits and in doing so sets a wonderful example for all who want to better themselves. She digs deep to constantly improve and to satisfy her competitive nature.

Personal trainer and fitness instructor Kerri Anderson digs deeps while pushing a barrel. Her strength, grit, muscular body are all on display.

Her determination and grit are evident and she owns her accomplishments with a refreshing confidence.

Personal trainer and fitness instructor Kerri Anderson performs a bent over row on a dressing room bench while dressed in an evening gown by Lovers + Friends. This shows her gritty side along with her feminine side.

 

You can find Kerri at Beacon Health and Fitness. As she says, your muscles will thank you.

Fitness instructor Kerri Anderson gives a fist bump to her adoring students, clients, and colleagues for a job well done. Clothing by Lululemon. Photo captured at St. Joseph Farm in Granger, Indiana.

 

 

Personal Branding: Tim

A portrait of entrepreneur, Tim Ryan, who has started his own consulting business in South Bend, Indiana. He is the owner of Ryan Career Consulting.When you have a gift, it is natural to want to share it with others. Tim has made a career of helping others with their careers and recently made the leap from being employed by other organizations to starting his own business. His years of experience in career consulting combined with his friendly personality, tenacious attitude, and personal attention to individual clients make him an ideal choice for those who need help with their resumes, references, and getting their name out there. He helps people who are starting their careers in finding a job that suits them well, and also those who have a career but are perhaps looking to take it in another direction–or maybe do something different altogether.
As I photographed Tim, my goal was to capture his professionalism, but also his easygoing nature. He is an avid runner (having completed 33 marathons and countless other road races) and Cubs fan. Tim serves his clients by providing tools that enable them to enter careers in which they can thrive. But potential clients can be assured that they are not simply numbers in a queue. All are appreciated for their distinct combinations of talents, character traits, and goals. After all, finding the right career is intimately linked with individuals’ personalities, outside interests, and life circumstances. Additionally, you can rest assured that all client interactions are treated in a confidential manner.

Standing pose from a personal branding session where career consultant Tim Ryan is wearing a blue jacket with a Cubs pin on it. Hands in pockets.
If you’d like to learn more about Tim Ryan and his consulting business, you may visit his website: https://www.ryancareerconsulting.com.

The Backstory No. 5: My Why

As I thought about how I wanted to shoot our family photo this year, I had to consider my “why.” Why is it so important to make an intentional frame of the five of us together? I do want to be able to document what we look like in this stage of our lives, but my “why” is so much deeper than that.

If I had to pick only one memory about my children that I fear will fade with time, it is how they feel in my arms. When they were infants, their bodies curved perfectly in the crook of my elbow. Their heads relaxed right where my head and shoulder meet. As toddlers, their legs wrapped around my waist when I carried them. (Ollie and I used to call this the “foot hug.”) When they grew older, they climbed onto my lap to read, to be comforted, or simply to snuggle. Their skin is soft, their bodies are warm, and they still find ways to curl up just so against me.

When I think about how I want them to remember my husband and I, I recall pictures of my own parents and grandparents and how I used to marvel at how young they looked at a time when I didn’t have the perspective to know how slowly, but how significantly, we change with time.  When I look at photos of us from even five years ago, I can see easily how we are aging. We will never be this young again, and I want our kids to have tangible memories of us at the time in their lives when we drove them to school and ran around with them in the yard, laughed at their jokes, and watched TV together.

The occasions are certainly occasional when we all expend effort to look our best. When it happens, of course I pull out the camera to document the event. Unfortunately, the more formal affairs are generally accompanied by tight schedules that leave little time for photographs other than quick snaps in front of the house or garage or fence or wall or couch or some other place where the setting does not match the mood I want to remember.

With this in mind, I solicited the help of The Morris Inn and of Heather Strycker, who styles all of my client shoots. I explained my inspiration, the setting, the feeling that I wanted to convey. Each person’s attire was influenced by the personality who would be wearing it: Megan with her history-loving tomboyish femininity, Jacob and Jason being all about comfort, me with my desire to be stylish but comfortable, and Oliver with a little bit of flair.

The end result is a photo that makes me feel warm, soft, cozy, beautiful, and at peace–just the way I feel when my closest loved ones settle in next to me.

 

A family of five snuggles and relaxes at the Morris Inn after a night out.

To see more about how and why I make specific photographs, check out the previous posts entitled The Backstory.

Wedding Day Prep

I am frequently asked whether I shoot weddings.  The answer is a qualified no, but that is a very hard answer to say out loud. I love weddings and all of the stories that unfold before, during, and after the ceremony. However, for various reasons I have decided to not take them on (except under very specific circumstances.)

There are a few situations when I simply cannot say no, and in fact search weddings out.  That was the case when Elizabeth asked me to document the bridal party getting ready for her wedding. I photographed Elizabeth and John’s engagement session last winter, so I already knew them and their style, some details behind the wedding preparations, and that the scene would be full of narratives that they would want to remember and share as they start and build their new life together.

So many little girls fantasize about their wedding day and the dreamy gown they will wear as they walk down the aisle. I was completely taken by the way Elizabeth admired hers shortly before donning it. The detailing on the dress was exquisite and the personalized hanger added a whimsical element in addition to showing her excitement about becoming a missus to her mister.

A bride admires her gown, hanging on a whimsical hanger with her married name, before she dons the dress.

 

I love how the bride is the complete center of attention on this incredible day.  Her friends and family look after, help, and dote on her, want her to look and feel beautiful, and work to make this as perfect an experience as possible.

A bride seeks an opinion from her friend and bridesmaid after she has put on her wedding dress and is assessing it in the mirror.Helping hands fasten the buttons on a bride's dress.

Sometimes, for the younger members of the party, there is a lot of waiting before the wedding. These two girls found a way to quietly entertain themselves.

The flower girl and cousin of the bride arrange flower petals in a basket while waiting for the rest of the bridal party to get ready.

John was unbelievably relaxed.  Actually, I was looking for signs of nervousness from either the bride or groom, but found that they were confident and composed as the hour of the wedding approached.

The groom attaches his cuff link while getting ready for his wedding.

The parents were also quite laid-back and smoothed the few inevitable wrinkles that popped up–without blinking.

The groom's mother straightens her son's jacket shortly before his wedding begins.

I had to hold back the tears while watching Elizabeth and her mother interact in the moments just before the first look. I can only imagine the pride Elizabeth’s mother felt for her daughter and I feel the gratitude and respect Elizabeth has for her mother as I look at her soft smile.

The bride smiles warmly at her mother in the last few minutes before the first look takes place. One last hug from a mother to her daughter, the bride, before the first look takes place.

And then the tears came anyway as I watched Elizabeth’s father’s reaction the first time he saw his baby girl dressed and ready to go for her wedding.

A father sees his grown daughter, the bride, in her wedding gown and jewelry for the first time.

Finally, it was John’s turn.  Again, the confidence of this couple, the strength they have together, was striking.  These were some of the last photos I shot that day, but it was really only the beginning of the biggest celebration of their lives and the first of countless adventures to come.

A bride looks down shyly after her groom sees her in her wedding gown for the first time.

 

 

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The Backstory No. 4: Mirror, Mirror

My daughter has never been one to embrace “girly.” As a very young child, she didn’t take to pretty dresses or bows. She chose Diego over Dora. Her hair, even freshly brushed, is in a state of constant disarray and I swear it actually repels hair accessories that attempt to tame the beast. I find all of this humorous, endearing, sometimes frustrating, and even familiar.

When Heather told me one day about her little girl, Wren, with tomboyish tendencies and a special enchantment with insects, I knew I had an opportunity to capture a narrative about mothers and daughters and how similar they are, even if on the surface they appear to be very different.  We took a number of shots (See more on my Instagram feed) but I felt this one best summed up my take on the relationship we share with our daughters.  Even though the setting is similar in all of the photographs, the stories in each are a little bit different.

 

 

 

This image has lived in many nebulous versions in my head for a few years.  I see it as a pretty picture, with an elegant woman modeling traditional femininity for her daughter.  Her beautiful daughter, feminine in her own right, is interested in more tomboyish curiosities.  But more than that, I see Wren as a likeness of Heather herself, perhaps as a little girl, perhaps as a reflection of how she embodies and encourages curiosity, imagination, and independence.  Wren stays near her, a part of the scene, but in her own world at the same time.  Furthermore, maybe you get a glimpse of this small child as she will be in the future.

As parents, we are constantly modeling even when we may not be aware our children are watching. As they grow, they do indeed mirror our own expressions, habits, language, and behaviors. As we watch our babies grow, it is fascinating to think of all the things they might become. But in trying to envision what the future brings for them, we might take a look in the mirror.

Check out more backstories to see how I try to capture with a camera the images I carry in my head.Save

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